This Girl: A Novel

schedule a meeting with you.” She grabs the stack of papers out of my hands and spreads them out on her desk, looking for the note she wrote. “He said he needs to do your quarterly observation. I swear I put it right on top.”
    I reach forward and swipe the contents of my mailbox back into a stack. “Thank you. I’m running late, so I’ll look through it later. I’ll let you know if I don’t find it.”
    She smiles and waves good-bye as I back away from her.
    Oh, shit. It was a flirty wave. I’ve got to quit coming in here.
    “Have a great day,” I say, turning to leave as fast as I can. I’m relieved when the door to the administration office closes behind me. I’m really going to have to get someone else to check my mail from now on.
    “You really need to stop leading her on like that,” Gavin says. I look up and he’s staring through the window at Mrs. Alex.
    I roll my eyes. “Nothing has changed since high school, Gavin. It’s even worse now that I’m a teacher here.”
    Gavin looks past me and waves at Mrs. Alex through the window and smiles at her. “She’s still watching you. Maybe you should flex your muscles; give her a little gun show. Or at least give her a nice view while you’re walking away.”
    The thought of Mrs. Alex admiring me from behind makes me a little too uncomfortable, so I change the subject and walk toward my first-period class. “You and Eddie going to Club N9NE tonight? I haven’t seen you guys there in a couple of weeks.”
    “Maybe. Why? You doing one?”
    I shake my head. “No, not tonight,” I say. “We’ll be there a little after eight, though. My sitter isn’t available until seven-thirty, so we’ll probably miss the sac.”
    He stops in his tracks just as we reach my classroom door. “We? Who’s we? Does Will Cooper have a date?” He cocks an eyebrow and waits for my reply.
    I don’t usually hang out with students outside of work, but Gavin and Eddie have been showing up at Club N9NE every now and then for a few months. We sometimes sit together, so I’ve gotten to know them pretty well. When you’re teaching at twenty-one years old, it’s sort of difficult to completely cut off socialization with people who are practically your age.
    “So? Who is she?” he says. “Who’s the elusive girl that may just be the end to Will Cooper’s dry spell?”
    I open the door to the classroom and lose the smile as I switch on teacher-mode. “Get to class, Gavin.”
    He laughs and salutes me, then heads down the hallway.
    •••
    “THANKS AGAIN, MAYA,” I say as I head through the living room. “There’s cash on the table. I ordered pizza about fifteen minutes ago.” I grab my keys and shove my wallet into my pocket. “He’s been talking backward a lot so just ignore it. He’ll talk frontward if he has anything important to say.”
    “You paying me double?” she says, falling onto the sofa with the remote in hand. “I didn’t agree to watch that other kid.”
    “He’s just the neighbor,” I say. “He’ll go home soon. If he doesn’t, then yeah . . . I guess I’ll pay you extra.” I’ve turned to head outside when the boys make their way back into the house. Kel stops in the doorway and puts his hands on his hips, looking up at me.
    “Are you my sister’s boyfriend?”
    I’m thrown off by his directedness. “Um, no. Just her friend.”
    “She told my mom you were taking her on a date. I thought only boyfriends took girls on dates.”
    “Well,” I pause. “Sometimes boys take girls on dates to see if they want them to be their girlfriend.”
    I notice Caulder standing beside me, taking in the conversation as if he’s just as curious. I wasn’t prepared to have to explain the rules of dating right now.
    “So it’s like a test?” Caulder asks. “To see if you want Layken to be your girlfriend?”
    I shrug and nod. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
    Kel laughs. “You aren’t gonna like her. She burps a lot. And she’s bossy. And she never lets me drink coffee, so she probably won’t let you have any either. And she has really bad taste in music and sings way too loud and leaves her bras all over the house. It’s gross.”
    I laugh. “Thanks for the warning. You think it’s too late to back out now?”
    Kel shakes his head, missing my sarcasm completely. “No, she’s already dressed so you have to take her now.”
    I sigh, pretending to be annoyed. “Well, it’s just a few hours. Hopefully she won’t